Watching a programme called: Horizon - Reality.
I had previously found this programme interesting and (eeeeurgh) thought-provoking.
However, tonight, the first 'say what?!' came in the form of:
There are 6 quarks, and 6 'otherthings(can't remember the name)' ... but are there?
There could be 43 oojamaflips and 9 whatjamacallits and a host of 'dooobrees'. But would it make any difference? CAN you find reality by looking for it?
Jaysus - these guys have spent billions (count them) BILLIONS! on a "Teletron" ( I get a picture of Dr. Evil in Austin Powers here) which is blasting and banging particles together, like billions and trillions of times, in order to find some hypothetical 't' particle. They think it may exist, they think they've found it... but .. oh shit.. maybe not.
To find reality you don't have to do anything. Do you?
It's just here.
Can it be described?
And then some Prof Quantum Physicist bod just said: 'Mathematics becomes the only explanation of reality.'
And to that the narrator said: "The ultimate definition of reality is staring us in the face."
A lot more supposition follows with regard to Black Holes, and how once you've been sucked into a black hole nothing can get out....
So ..... how do they know? How do they know that nothing comes out... if nothing comes out!
(and I'm reminded of that British Railways Station joke "Please don't stand too near to the edge of the platform or you may get sucked off"! Quantum Physicist version: "Please don't get too near to a blackhole or you may get sucked in"... hmmm.. it's not so funny, is it?)
Fuxake. Come on... these blokes control budgets of billions just to find out what is already staring them in the face. Give that narrator a fucking Nobel Physics Prize. And use the billions you save to solve world hunger... or something a bit more bloody useful.
And the play out song to this programme is: "Is that all there is? Is that all there is, my friend? If that's all there is, then let's keep dancing."
Perfect.
Yeah, I watched bits of that too. I used to be REALLY into quantum physics - 'Schrodinger's Cat' 'n' all that ;-) but it's kind of funny watching it now. The need to search and search and seek and the answer's just round the next corner and, oh... maybe the NEXT corner.
ReplyDeleteHow long do you have to try to understand before you finally understand that there is NO WAY you'll ever understand?
That said, I'm just as crap at seeing the blatantly obvious - apparently.
You're not crap at seeing anything - that's just a story. See that AS a story.
ReplyDeleteand the world is riddles with fancy little stories to entice itself. :P
ReplyDeleteAt least the stories are having fun! Its either that or the fantasy of life coming to an end, the dance between the two will go on for ages.
Yeah watched it too. it was excellent. Somewhat unnerving however that the quest for reality seems so abstract
ReplyDeleteAnd when they find it (reality) will it be MORE real because they've found it?! And how will they know that they've found it? Will it have a label on?
ReplyDeleteStill ..... keeps a lot of sophisticated minds very busy - I suppose they've got to do something....